Earlier text: How to Relieve PainCONSTANTINOPLE.—I arrived here November 23, and the next day met Brother Baharian, and enjoyed visiting and counseling with him about a week, when he was called by the police department, and imprisoned, where he is at the present time. I have not seen him since then. About three months ago one of the workers in Asia Minor was arrested, and sent back to his home province. From him the police took some letters and lessons written by Brother Baharian, and sent them to the police headquarters here in Constantinople. In one of these letters was a statement exhorting the workers to preach the message, saying that we must preach it, organize companies and tract societies, even though the government opposed us. This, of course, the officials would construe as seditious and revolutionary, and have called him to account for his persisting in his opposition to the government. I understand, from what Brother Baharian told me, that several years ago a decree was made by the Sublime Porte and sent to the police throughout the empire, to prohibit the “Sabbatarians,” as we have become known to them, from preaching and teaching their doctrine. In conversation with the American minister and others, I learn that the Turks are not opposed to us or the other Protestants on account of religion. In their estimation, their religion is so superior to all others, and so few Mohammedans ever change their religion, that they are not afraid of Christianity. On the standpoint of religion alone, they are very liberal. They are afraid that the dissemination of Protestant ideas, and especially American ideas, will create unrest and dissatisfaction among the non-Mohammedans, and favor revolutions. They have grounds, no doubt, for their fear, and many times American missionaries have sympathized with and aided the Armenians in revolutionary schemes. They care nothing for our religion, but they reason that the preaching of a new doctrine will stir up riots and difficulties of many kinds. And so it does; for our workers are always liable to mobs and riots. Only a few weeks ago one of our workers was severely beaten at Adana, near Tarsus. Another is imprisoned in Aleppo. In this matter the Turks are logical. The Protestants are organized under one “community,” which is civil as well as religious, and sectarianism is suppressed. If we were recognized as Protestants, there would be no difficulty with the officials, but the Protestant organization refused us such recognition on account of the Sabbath. So we are cast out, and to a certain extent have neither civil nor religious rights. If our brethren wish to hold a funeral, they must employ a priest not of our faith to conduct the ceremony. If they wish to get married, they must do so without a license, and their children have no legal inheritance in their property. If they wish to go to another city, it is with great difficulty that they get a permit to travel. It is the Sabbath question that really causes all the trouble. But thank the Lord for trouble when it comes in a good cause. The Sabbath and the “mark of the beast” are the distinguishing standards here, as well as in America. In Brother Baharian’s case it appears that interference from a foreigner would only create difficulty. So I must enjoy my nice room here in Pera, while Brother Baharian lies in prison just across the Golden Horn. My heart smites me when I think of it, but I can do most by doing nothing. When I see what difficulties lie in the way of the work here, it seems as if it could never be done. But the work is the Lord’s, and he carries the burden of it with us, and we have the assurance that it will triumph. Surely, since the Lord is no respecter of persons, he will give the people of this land an opportunity to hear the truth before the end, and I am sure success will come by some means. The thought of discouragement has not entered my mind. Altogether, I am much pleased with my field of labor. There is much good to compensate for the bad. It is bad here if we look down—in the streets—but if we look up, we see much that is beautiful, in a pure, clear, smokeless atmosphere. The people—Turks, Armenians, and all—are intelligent. I am much pleased with our Armenian brethren. Surely the Lord has many true ones among them. I went to Bardizag the latter part of the week of prayer, and stayed over Sabbath and Sunday. The brethren all seemed glad to see me. A number of them can speak a little English, but none enough to act as interpreters; but a neighbor, the wife of a retired Armenian Protestant pastor, kindly offered to interpret for me, so I got along well, and enjoyed my stay with them very much. All were eager to learn the principles of healthful living and simple treatments. I feel when I meet these people that I am meeting true hearts, because it means much here to accept the truth. The Armenian pastor before mentioned attended three of the meetings, and manifested much friendship toward us, and prayed for Brother Baharian in prison, whom a few years ago he opposed very bitterly. He has no doubt been watching our people since then, and found that their religion makes them better. Every honest soul must recognize the truth when its effect is seen upon the life. The Turkish pasha of this city is friendly to us, and says, “The Sabbatarians are good people.” Thank God for a religion17 that transforms the life. I hope the Lord will provide open doors for the truth by the medical work. Pray for me. Second Session of the Southern Union Conference
By A. G. Daniells
THE second session of the Southern Union Conference was held in Nashville, Tenn., January 8-28. This was designed to be more than a business session of the conference, hence the length of time covered. The meeting was attended by the presidents of all the conferences in the union, and by a majority of the ministers in the Southern field. Owing to pressing work at the headquarters, I could attend only the last week of the conference. Bible instruction especially appropriate for the time and the issues before us, was given by Elders Butler and Haskell during the entire session. Before the conference opened, the Lord laid a special burden upon Sister White in behalf of the meeting, which led her to send communications almost daily, to be read to those assembled. From what I saw and felt after reaching the meeting, it was plainly manifest that the Lord had met with his servants, and granted them his good blessing. The brethren managing the work in the Southern field have difficulties and perplexities to meet that few of our brethren in the Northern conferences appreciate. It takes grace to meet the situation day after day and year after year, with good cheer and courage. This is the second session of the union conference I have attended, and the fourth time I have met with the Southern workers in council; and I do not remember of having witnessed better courage than was manifested at this meeting. The past year has been one of blessing in many respects in the Southern field. Several of the older and stronger conferences have added a number of churches during the year, and the work generally has made progress. The weaker conferences have had to pull against great odds; but they have overcome obstacles and made advancement. The Tennessee River, Cumberland, and Florida Conferences have not only supported the entire work carried on in their States, but have rendered substantial aid to the union conference. The State of South Carolina has been made a mission field, and North Carolina becomes a conference by itself. The work in that State has developed, and is now self-supporting, with the exception of the colored work. The conference committee and ministers in North Carolina have made a most earnest effort to increase the tithe, and to economize in expenditure, so that their work would be self-supporting. Alabama and Louisiana are almost self-supporting, with the exception of the work being carried on for the colored people. During the last two or three years Georgia has suffered some serious reverses; but Elder Kilgore has taken charge of the conference work, and will make a heroic effort to place it on a more encouraging basis. Mississippi may be considered a difficult field. Elder Thurston, of California, has recently gone to that State, and is uniting with the brethren there to carry out a thoroughly progressive policy. Comparing the present situation with that of three years ago, when the Southern Union Conference and several of the local conferences were organized, it is easy to see that encouraging advancement has been made. The president of the union conference is advocating with much sturdiness the policy of making their work for the white people in the State conferences self-supporting. The presidents of these conferences stand with the president of the union in this proposal. It was necessary this year to make some appropriations from the mission funds for a number of the weaker conferences. We spent many hours in counsel together regarding the condition and needs of these conferences before our decision was reached as to the exact amount to appropriate to them. As I looked over the situation as presented by those in charge of the fields, I could but wish that the president of every conference in the North could have been present to see the situation. I am sure that if the conference committees of our strong conferences in the North could fully appreciate the needs of the South, and the hard battles our brethren are there fighting, they would see their way clear to share much more of their abundance with these Southern conferences. Our brethren in the South have to economize and struggle in a way that but few of our older conferences in the North know anything about. It has been so long since they were so weak numerically and financially that they have forgotten those days; in fact, very few of those now in charge of the older conferences in the North have ever passed through the experiences of those who built up the conferences in the beginning. But notwithstanding the perplexities and difficulties which must be met, the conference committees feel quite sure that after 1904 they will be able to make the work for the white people self-supporting. The various institutions in the South are endeavoring to advance the cause of present truth by doing the work for which they have been created. The publishing house has been reorganizing and reconstructing its affairs during the past year. Although quite a heavy loss has been sustained, the directors are confident that they have now reached the point where this institution will be self-supporting. All things considered, I was much encouraged by what I saw regarding this institution. While it is natural for directors to anticipate and prophesy better things for the future, yet one would have to shut his eyes to facts to prevent him from seeing that great improvement has been made in the institution during the past year, and that everything bids fair for a much better showing during 1904. I share this confidence with the directors, and believe we shall not be disappointed. As the president of the union conference has the figures and data for a more detailed report regarding the conference and its various enterprises, I shall not attempt to give the details in this general statement. Our brethren in charge of the medical work have made some headway during the past year; but they have met with many difficulties. Since the conference two years ago, a sanitarium has been erected at Graysville, and is now almost ready to open for regular work. The building in Atlanta, Ga., that was for some years used by the Review and Herald as a branch office, has been turned into a sanitarium. The sanitarium for the colored people in Nashville has been doing good work, although, as might be expected, it is difficult to make this institution self-supporting. During the late conference the sanitarium work that has been started and operated by Brother L. A. Hansen was purchased by the Southern Union Conference, and will hereafter be operated under their direction. It was decided to raise five thousand dollars during 1904 to improve this institution. The medical work in the Southern Union Conference was made a department of the conference; a similar arrangement has also been made by the Atlantic Union Conference. A medical board of nine members was elected to take special charge of this work. This board is co-ordinate with the educational committee, and the department will receive care, assistance, and counsel from the Southern Union Conference Committee, the same as the educational work. If this plan is carried out according to the recommendations adopted, the medical work in the Southern Union Conference will enter upon a new era. This is certainly due the physicians and nurses who have been struggling in that field with few facilities and very little help. I wish to tell the readers of the REVIEW that one of the strongest and most thrilling notes of the conference was in behalf of aggressive work in new fields. All were united in the conviction that the most important step to be taken in the South is for every minister and laborer to get out among strangers and give them the third angel's message. This is a prominent and determined feature of Elder Butler's policy. He assured the conference over and over again that he should spend a part of 1904 in18 carrying on a series of tent-meetings; in fact, Elder Butler and Elder Haskell propose to conduct a series of tent-meetings in the city of Nashville. They will be assisted by a number of Bible workers, and will make an earnest effort to raise up a good church in a part of the city that has not yet been worked. These gray-haired pioneers know what it means to do this sort of work. In the early days of this message they raised up many substantial churches. It did us good to see the energy and courage these veterans displayed. They should have our prayers as they gird on the armor anew this summer for pioneer tent work. I believe that this forward move should be the order in all our conferences in the United States. The great majority of our laborers should push out into fields where the truth has never been preached, and throw themselves most earnestly into the work, with the determination to give this message with earnestness and zeal that will lead many who have never heard it to embrace it. In closing this statement, I desire to urge our brethren throughout the field to watch the progress of the work in the South, to remember the laborers in their prayers, and to share their abundance with them. A. G. DANIELLS. T. H. PAINTER
By T. H. Painter
EPHESUS AND LYNCHBURG.—I left home January 14 for the last-named place. I spent one night with the little church at Buena Vista, and found them of good courage, although they have had but little labor for several years. They are anxious for some meetings in the spring. I spent Sabbath and Sunday with the Lynchburg church, but as the weather was unfavorable, and there was much sickness among our people, the quarterly meeting was not held at that time. I came to Ephesus, and began meeting in the M. E. church, with the consent of the pastor, and the Lord has been present to help in presenting his word. The congregations have been good most of the time. The minister and his wife have been present at nearly every meeting, and have assisted me, and are very kind. I have visited them at their home. To some extent they are observing the principles of health reform. The interest is good here, and I hope to see some obey soon. I am invited to hold meetings in two or three miles away. The weather has been so bad for one week that we had to discontinue our meetings for several days, as the people could not attend. I have taken six orders for the REVIEW in the last few months, also some for the Signs. Pray for the work here. The Southern Council at Nashville, Tenn.
By George I. Butler
It was thought by those who appointed this meeting that a meeting of the leading workers of the Union Conference to seek God, to counsel together in reference to every important interest, and to lay plans for the year to come, would result in great good to that field. It would unify the work, and give every department greater efficiency. Much excellent advice has been written out for the Southern field during the past few years—more perhaps than for any other one field. The peculiar circumstances existing in this field have doubtless made this necessary. When advice was asked in reference to the advisability of holding this meeting, the telegraphic wire flashed, “Go ahead at Nashville.” The word had before been spoken, “The cause in the South needs to be placed on a different basis.” It was hoped that this might be secured by such a meeting. The presidents, State canvassing agents, leading men in our schools and sanitariums, in short, in all departments of the Southern Union Conference, attended quite generally. It was a representative meeting. There were time and opportunity for a careful consideration of all matters of importance. The first week of the meeting was largely given to religious instruction and spiritual improvement. It was thought that if we could all draw nearer to God together, and be hewed and squared by his blessed truth, our spiritual perceptions would be greatly cleared, our hearts would be made tender, and greater unity would result. Then God would come nearer to us all, and we should be better able to do his work acceptably. The labors of Brother and Sister Haskell were greatly blessed of the Lord. They occupied a considerable portion of the time in giving practical spiritual instruction and in Bible readings relating to the great foundation truths of the message, and in a consideration of the work as it was in the early days of the message. The writer also participated in this labor. A sentiment has seemed to prevail in some quarters that this cause was going to be remodeled. The good old doctrines of the earlier days would gradually drop out, be ignored, and disappear from view, and new ideas take their place, not so unpopular as some of those were. These new views would be more acceptable to the intelligent classes, more consistent with new lines of thought now largely taking possession of the schools, the clergy, and the higher institutions of learning,—so-called humanitarian views, wonderfully elevating, many think, in their spiritual tendency; and peculiar ideas of the Deity, like an essence disseminated everywhere, in men,—good, bad, and indifferent,—in all creatures, yes, in the trees and all living vegetation. Not only were these new thoughts not accepted in this meeting, but the whole trend of the teaching and instruction given by the old pioneers was just the opposite. It was boldly said that the only salvation of this cause and people was in a return to the old landmarks of truth, to the grand doctrines which have made us a people,—the coming of the Lord in this generation; the glorious messages of the first, second, and third angels; the sanctuary, with its glorious search-light, making it clear and plain that the “hour of his judgment” had really come, and the books of record were being examined, the great God of the universe, a literal, personal being, sitting as supreme judge in the grandest assize that ever has been or ever will be. God has revived the spirit of prophecy in this world of darkness and unbelief. He is sending us precious messages of light and truth, in every way calculated to uplift, illuminate, and thoroughly establish every soul who will receive them. We were favored with Testimony after Testimony to be read in our early morning meetings. These were a feast to every soul present. Many, very many, prized them, and thanked God for them. Nothing can take the place of these grand messages and truths which lie at the very foundation of our work. The old pioneers propose to make them the platform upon which they shall stand as long as God gives them life. Many false and some foolish doctrines have been taught and accepted by some. These must be weeded out. And the pure, holy, grand old truths that made us a people must be everywhere revived. The battle is on, and will never end till Jesus comes. There can be no compromise, no halfway position, no faltering. The integrity of the work as proclaimed at the beginning, must and shall be maintained to the end. These thoughts took possession of those who were present. They were a constant theme of interest. As these truths were considered, accepted, and assimilated, God’s Spirit came into the meetings, and many hearts were aglow with new spiritual life. The spirit of union continued throughout the meeting. The publishing association appointed a special meeting in connection with the sessions of the council. This was changed into the annual meeting by a vote of the stockholders and a change of the by-laws. Committees on nominations and plans were appointed. A Board of Directors was elected, as follows: President, Geo. I. Butler; Vice-President, J. E. White; Secretary, C. S. Potts; Treasurer, I. A. Ford; other members, S. N. Haskell, N. W. Allee, and L. A. Hansen. The condition of the office and its prospects for the future were carefully considered. The business manager took all the delegates through the office, explaining the changes which have been made. Many expressed themselves greatly surprised at the remarkable improvements which had been brought about within a few months. All seemed greatly pleased and encouraged. A wonderful change for the better has been seen during the last few months in the quality of the help, and in the religious condition of the workers. The writer can not remember of ever seeing a more quiet, orderly, faithful class of workers than we have now in the office. They attend strictly to the business to which they have been appointed. They attend the religious services, and manifest interest in them. The management has made a determined effort to equip the office for doing a large amount of work. Owing to the breaking down of the last one of the old presses, we have had for the last few weeks only our one new Meihle press on which to print all our work. Within a week or two we expect two more new Meihle presses, the best in the market, to be in place. These three presses will save our running night and day, as we have had to do almost constantly since our breakdown. Our future prospects for plenty of work are excellent. Much book work of our own denomination must be rapidly brought out. Plenty of excellent jobs come to us unsolicited. Many of these have to be turned away. We fail to see how our prospects for plenty of paying work could be better. After looking over the past history of the printing business since the rise of this cause, it seems evident that there has never been a printing office among our people brought into existence that has made such rapid progress as our Southern office. The dear old Review and Herald office was nearly a score of years in reaching the state of efficiency this office has attained. The Pacific Press, now such a power for good, was six or eight years at least in becoming as well equipped as our Southern office is now with an existence of only three years. The writer had the good fortune to be present at the second camp-meeting ever held in California. It had an attendance of only about sixty or sixty-five believers. Over twenty thousand dollars was raised, mostly at that meeting, with which to found the Signs office. For six or eight years it struggled against great hindrances, till it finally entered upon its pathway of prosperity. Now it has become a power for good. The same is true of our Australian office. We see no reason in the world for being discouraged about our Nashville office. As far as we can learn, our people in attendance at the recent council went home much encouraged concerning the future of our Southern printing house. No great debts hang over it. The fullest confidence exists in the present management. It is careful and conservative. It hopes to be vigorous and progressive. We are in something of a pinch for ready money to pay for the improvements we have been making, which were absolutely essential if our office is to be equipped for the great work it has to do. If the friends of the cause will have confidence in its future stability, and will19 donate means to help us in our present need, and will loan us money without interest or at a low rate of interest, and will make the office a place of deposit for money not required for immediate use, so as to relieve us from present difficulties, we shall soon be on our feet, and this new office will enter fully upon its important work. Let all remember this one interesting fact: in the fifty or sixty years of our history as a people, not a single dollar has been lost because of a failure among us of a single Seventh-day Adventist institution. Not one! Is not this a good record? Banks have toppled over. Rich corporations have failed. Great firms worth their millions have gone under. Millionaires have become poor men. But every Seventh-day Adventist public institution stands firm, and is solvent to-day. We need not be ashamed of our record as a people. Let all our friends therefore realize that our Southern publishing house is among the latest of these coming into prominence. It does not propose to disgrace the family record. Dear friends in this message, believe in us. With all our youth and poverty as a Southern Union Conference, the medical missionary branch of the work is receiving some degree of attention. The servant of the Lord sent us this message: “Small sanitariums should be established all through the South” at suitable points. We have begun to carry out this instruction. The first sanitarium of our people ever established south of the Ohio River is at Graysville, Tenn. Instruction was received that it should be built there. A structure four stories high, thirty-two by sixty-four feet, has been erected. A beautiful, clear, soft-water spring on the side of Lone Mountain abundantly supplies it with the very best of water. About twelve thousand dollars has already been expended in the purchase of land and the erection of the building. It has reached that stage where patients are being received. It is unfinished, and several thousand dollars more is greatly needed to equip it fully for its important mission. Let our Northern friends who are deeply interested in the medical missionary work not forget this new member of the sanitarium family. At Hildebran, N. C., another institution is in process of preparation. It also has the proper indorsement. A building with twenty-five rooms is already erected. About sixteen rooms are suitable for the reception of patients. The services of Dr. Carey, of Oregon, have recently been procured. It will soon be supplied with furniture. Several thousand dollars has been appropriated for finishing it, ready for occupancy. At Atlanta, Ga., thanks to the gift of the Review and Herald Office of the building formerly occupied by the Atlanta Branch of the Review and Herald, another member of this interesting family is now in process of being prepared for sanitarium purposes. The machinery and bath tubs and other furniture are being put in. This institution up to the present time is entirely out of debt. The location is a quiet, pleasant one in the outskirts of the beautiful city of Atlanta, Georgia’s proud capital, within a few minutes’ walk of the finest park of the city, containing quite a large collection of animals from distant parts of the earth. This institution will soon be in operation. The council became deeply interested in the matter of bringing into existence another sanitarium near the city of Nashville, Tenn. The Testimonies have spoken very strongly on the importance of locating such an institution here. Brother L. A. Hansen and others have been laboring most faithfully for six or seven years in preparing the way for such an enterprise. Already a fine building in the heart of the city is rented, where baths are given, and some patients are treated. A restaurant is also in operation. In a very pleasant place in the suburbs of the city, a large building with eleven acres of land is being used for sanitarium purposes. Dr. O. M. Hayward is associated with Brother Hansen in these enterprises. The union conference purchased the property used by Brother Hansen, to assist him in developing the sanitarium enterprise, and relieve him from embarrassment. It is hoped that a sanitarium may be secured or erected in the near future in the vicinity of Nashville. A Board to look after sanitarium interests was elected. S. N. Haskell, N. W. Allee, O. M. Hayward, L. A. Hansen, I. A. Ford, B. E. Spires, and Geo. I. Butler constitute this Board. O. M. Hayward was elected president, L. A. Hansen secretary and treasurer. The educational interests also received a good share of attention. They are fairly prosperous. The training-school at Graysville is having a good attendance. The school for colored students at Huntsville has also a fair attendance. The length of this article forbids that more should be said on these points. The canvassing interests are being cared for, and are prospering encouragingly. The corps of canvassers is already among the largest of our sister union conferences, and is rapidly increasing. We hope to have the strongest force of canvassers in the field of any of them not far hence. Our field is the most needy of any. God will surely bless our efforts here the coming year. We are all of excellent courage; union and love prevail. A far more earnest effort will be made the present year than ever before to bring souls to Christ. Our large tent, sixty by one hundred feet, will be manned and run in our large cities the coming season. Probably Elder Haskell and the writer, with a large corps of canvassers and Bible workers, will begin in Nashville as soon as the weather will permit. We must make a strong move on the enemy’s works this year without fail. May the prayers of our dear brethren and sisters ascend all over the field in our behalf. Religious Liberty
By Allen Moon
Special Effort Planned for March Fifth
In the last few years we have contributed very little toward the support of religious liberty work. Other important matters have absorbed in large measure the attention and means of our people during this time. The advocates of National Reform doctrine have, in the meantime, made steady strides in the direction of their aim; not so marked, perhaps, in the way of securing religious legislation, as in convincing the masses of the righteousness of their cause. No change has come as to the ultimate object to be attained, but merely a change of policy on the part of the party seeking to religionize the state and nation. During recent months there has come a revival, in a measure, of the old method. A great many persons in Philadelphia and other localities have been subjected to arrests and fine and imprisonment. This movement still goes forward. A Sunday bill is introduced in Congress, a Lord’s Day Act in the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada, and other state and municipal measures, all indicating that the time is at hand for the final effort to have the state recognize religion by law. So far as the effect of this movement upon our people is concerned, it is of very little consequence; for we can serve the Lord quite as well in the prison cell as anywhere, if he so orders it. But it is clear to lovers of truth that there is an educational work called for on the part of God’s people to prepare the world for the events soon to occur. The very thing sought by the national religionists is a subject of prophecy; and a warning is given in God’s Word, and he has charged us to deliver the warning. “We can not stand clear before God if we leave the world to meet this momentous issue unwarned.” This work can not be accomplished in a short time by a little company of ministers, by means of preaching only. The printing-press must be employed. Writers that are alive to the issue are to be secured, and literature scattered over the land like the leaves of autumn. This will require money and labor and sacrifice, all of which God will enable his people to devote to this cause. He does not require impossibilities. It is the purpose of the General Conference to set apart Sabbath, March 5, as the time for all the members of all the churches in the land to contribute of their means to the General Conference treasury for the purpose of inaugurating and carrying forward a strong and vigorous effort in behalf of religious liberty. At present we have very little literature suitable to meet present issues. The World’s Fair at St. Louis will open in the spring, and the friends of the cause are anxious to do an extensive work in the interest of religious liberty in connection with the fair; and so confident are they that the way will be opened, and the means provided, that preparations are already begun, and will be pushed forward to completion. Literature suitable to fill this place must be provided, and also to supply the demand coming from all parts of the country. ALLEN MOON,
Chairman Religious Liberty Department,
Room 070 Monon Bldg., Chicago, Ill. West Michigan Conference Proceedings
FROM the West Michigan Herald we take the following summary of the report of the Committee on Plans and Resolutions presented at the recent conference at Charlotte, Mich.:— “We recommend, That the conference committee consider the advisability of appointing a general worker among the20 Hollanders, and that an effort be made to secure workers in the different lines among the Holland people. “Recognizing the value of our literature in giving this gospel of the kingdom, and the efficiency of the work done by the Christian canvasser,— “We recommend, That an earnest effort be put forth by all our churches in missionary efforts, using our books, papers, and tracts, and that campaigns be organized for the circulation of the special literature prepared for this purpose from time to time. “We recommend, That a decided effort be put forth this winter by all our churches, conference laborers and officers to secure a large corps of canvassers who will devote their whole time to this work, the names of such persons to be furnished the field secretary for training. “We recommend, That the executive committee pay to the North Michigan Conference eleven dollars a week, and to the Superior Mission field eighty dollars a month, for the year beginning Oct. 1, 1903. “We recommend, That this conference donate to the Southern field four hundred dollars for the year 1904, payable in equal quarterly installments. “We recommend, That the conference committee consider the advisability of encouraging several young men and women to enter various departments of our work by aiding them financially to enter the field. “We recommend, That the conference committee consider the needs of the foreign fields, and appropriate to the General Conference such portion of our tithe fund as may be deemed by them consistent. “We recommend, That medical and Sabbath-school conventions be held at convenient points in the conference, under the direction of the conference committee. “In view of the multiplying judgments of God and the appalling increase of disease in these last days,— “We recommend, A greater faithfulness to the principles of health and temperance in our homes, and a more active interest in medical missionary work in our neighborhoods. “In harmony with the action of the General Conference,— “We recommend, That Sabbath-school donations on certain Sabbaths be donated to supplies for the local school, and that all contributions for the rest of the quarter be devoted entirely to the work in foreign fields. “We recommend, That we invite the Lake Union Conference to hold its next biennial session within the borders of the West Michigan Conference, and would suggest Berrien Springs as a suitable place. “We recommend, That this conference hold a general camp-meeting in the year 1904, and that the conference committee proceed to raise a camp-meeting fund. “We recommend, Immediate efforts to finish raising the $1,000 voted by the last conference for the Cedar Lake Academy. “We recommend, That the field secretary or some other competent person acting under the direction of the conference committee, devote his time for as long a period as necessary in visiting the churches where the quota of ‘Christ’s Object Lessons’ is still unsold, organizing and encouraging the brethren, and closing the work. “We recommend, That Warren Cole, of Mt. Pleasant; R. A. Hart, of Battle Creek; Jas. E. Root, of Coopersville; R. C. Horton, of Kalamazoo; W. D. Parkhurst, of Grand Rapids; W. E. Videto, of Big Rapids; P. T. Magan, of Berrien Springs; and George Pierce, of Charlotte, together with the conference committee, compose a committee of thirteen to locate the conference offices. “We recommend, That our church schools be supported by money derived from the following sources: first, tuitions; second, donations in the local churches; third, a general fund under the control of the conference committee. “That the conference committee undertake the formation of a general fund to be known as the Church School fund, from which assistance may be given church schools in the discretion of the conference committee. “We recommend, The organization of a general Young People’s Society for the conference, in order that isolated young people as well as local societies may be brought into touch with the work of the message. “Whereas, ‘Already many are receiving the Holy Spirit, and no longer will the way be blocked by listless indifference,’ and whereas, ‘All that the apostles did, every church-member to-day is to do,’— “Resolved, That we urge upon all the earnest, faithful seeking of God, by the putting away of all sin, the righting of wrongs, the healing of all troubles between brother and brother, and the calling upon God for the Holy Spirit to fit us to give this message to the world.”